Top Mani's of 2014

Happy New Year! I cannot believe how fast this year has come and gone. It's officially one year since my resolution to become a serious and dedicated blogger. I don't mean to toot my own horn here, but I have to say I'm damn proud of myself. For one of the first times in my life, I set a goal and I achieved it. But, of course, none of this would mean anything if it weren't for my readers. Thank you guys from the bottom of my heart. As a special treat, I'd like to share with you guys my top eight nail art designs of 2014. I honestly didn't plan on doing any of these 'top' this or that posts, but thanks to my hubs and best friend I was able to come up with this countdown.

We spent about an hour narrowing down from over forty designs to bring to you what we feel were the top eight. It was not easy. Many chocolate goodies were ingested to help make this post possible. I know you may be wondering, why top eight? Honestly I would of done a top ten... but... I couldn't figure out how to collage ten so I said f*** it, I like the number eight better anyway. Let's get started!

#8 - Barbie Girl

Barbie couldn't have been left out of the party, am I right? And technically yes, this is a decal mani. But while we omitted most stamping and decal mani's early on, all three of us couldn't let go of this one. It's one of the few times I've been able to get super girly and still love it. I rocked this mani for almost a week (and for a serial swatcher that's the equivalent to decades). And it seriously made me want to dig out my old barbies from the basement. [Read the original blog post here.]

#7 - Acid-Trip Watermarble

Gaze upon what I feel is the only successful watermarble throughout this entire year. My nail bestie and I decided to improve our skills by doing bestie twin marbles every month. In October, we both finally managed to nab the popular PipeDream Polishes and this marble was born. It was not only one of my personal favorites, but nail lovers everywhere really loved it. It's one of my most praised designs to date. [Read the original post here.]

#6 - Silver Lining in Every Present

Oh hey, you guys should remember this one from two weeks ago or so. Funny enough, I was against this one being on the list. I got out-voted by the guys. Now that I'm looking at it though, I can definitely see why this one made the cut. Simple nail art designs can sometimes be the hardest judged ones. Especially the ones with white polish bases. It's like every mistake is intensified by the monstrous perfection that is white nail polish. Not this time though. It's fancy, simple, and cute all rolled into one. [Read the original post here.]

#5 - Your Soul

Spooky time! This mani was created back in October after seeing the movie Annabelle. My friend only takes me to see one scary movie a year and this was my pick. Although the movie wasn't anything too spooky, it did linger in my head for days afterwards. Unfortunately for me, I found myself really tight on time to be able to do this at home. Not wanting to give up though, I took everything to work and created this creepy little thing. It's one of the only times this I attempted realistic vs cartoon characters for a design so kudos to me. But really though, who the heck would actually want such an creepy doll?! Haha. [Read the original post here.]

#4 - Pretty Little Liars

Pretty Little Liars is one of my favorite shows and I had a blast participating in Red Coat Tuesday this year. Created back in July, I created this mani to celebrate the 100th episode of the show. I really wanted to incorporate not only the lettering, but also the feeling behind the notes left by A on the show. For those of you who watch the show, can't you imagine A doing this to one of the girls? [Read the original post here.]

#3 - Got Milk?

Moo! Created back in June, this mani launched my initiative to focus more of my attention back on art. It's one of my top liked photos on Instagram and my mom's personal favorite. Looking back on it, I've never been able to capture this pose again. Even more of a reason this one is extremely memorable to me. [Read the original post here.]

#2 - Swan Lake

Another fairly recent design I created over the holidays. This mani was created around the line of seven swans swimming from the 12 Days of Christmas song. I don't think I have ever created something so detailed and small in my nail artist life. I honestly never thought I had it in me. I spent two-three hours in a chair, in excruciating back pain, to create this and it was worth every second of it. [Read the original post here.]

And finally the #1.... The Pumpkin King!

This mani was the #1 everything across my social media and blog. I spent hours on these and ended up in tears twice! The first time for feeling like a complete failure at not being able to draw Jack and the second time when I finished this mani. I owe quite a bit of this accomplishment to my bestie Cheyenne. She's helped me break down that wall of insecurity when it comes to my art. Without her, I never would of even tried to do this. Needless to say, these were the first we all picked to be in the top eight. [Read the original post here.]

And.... That's it! These were my/our picks for 2014! Special thank you to Adam and Austin for sitting with me and picking these out. It was surprisely a lot more fun than we anticipated. Here's to a lot more nail art in 2015 and a lot less nail fails, haha.

Did you see your favorites here? Did your favorite not make the cut? Let me know which one is your number one!